Human actions such as hugs, stuttering, and goodbyes tend to last three seconds, possibly due to our sense of timeliness. This pattern is also observed in physiological actions and some animals.
Researchers timed hundreds of post-competition hugs by competitors at the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics and found that the average hug lasts three seconds. Apparently, this isn’t the only human action that follows the three-second rule: Babies tend to stutter in three-second bursts, and even the average goodbye wave lasts three seconds.
Learn more about the “three second rule”:
Researchers speculate that the reason so many basic human gestures last for three seconds is because that’s how a human’s sense of “timeliness” lasts, perhaps even explaining people’s tendency to follow the “three-second rule.” on dropped food.
Studies dating back to 1911 have documented the three-second rule. Physiological actions, such as relaxed breathing, also tend to occur at three-second intervals.
Humans aren’t the only ones to act in three-second bursts. Animals like giraffes, raccoons, okapis, and pandas also tend to act in three-second intervals, whether they’re chewing, widdling, or even defecating.
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